This mobile app will help you shop your fave African designers - and you could score some Black Friday steals

By Thobekile Masombuka

20 November 2018

The Lesela app connects you to African fashion designers and merchandise. Credit: Unsplashed

Andile Tshuma and Mamello Khantsi have created an app that connects designers to their markets.

Do you want to make a statement that's fashionably African? There's an app for that.

Andile Tshuma and Mamello Khantsi are the brains behind the fashion app, Lesela, which connects African designers to African fashion enthusiasts alike. An article in Bizcommunity.africa reports that Lesela, which means cloth in Sesotho and Swahili, allows consumers to build profiles, browse, save and shop, and it also allows designers to easily connect to markets they would otherwise not have been able to tap into.

Co-founder of the app, Andile, tells us that the idea came to him and Mamello when they were looking through Pintrest images and realised that African designers were not on display as much as international designers were - and so came the idea to create an app that linked designers to their markets and vice versa.

'For some of the brands I found, you had to buy their stuff through Facebook or Whatsapp; and other designers were very dispersed and hard to find,' Andile explained; but now the app makes it safer and easier for customers to find and buy from their favourite designers. 'Designers can now sell their clothes from wherever they are,' he says. The app is for all African designers, but their current focus is on getting South African designers involved and recognised.

Andile adds that the reception of the app has been brilliant, especially from the designers' side. More designers are using the app to showcase their work and to build a strong client base as upcoming designers and entrepreneurs. Some of the designers that are selling their products on the app include Hudess Couture, Inkatura, Freedom of Movement, Fluidity Clothing, and Apex Active Apparel.

'We want to get designers out there, we want their voices to be heard. We hope to take them out there as much as possible and to make the value chain easily accessible to everyone,' Andile says.

Once dowloaded, the app gives you access to a wide range of clothes, bags, and jewellery from various designers, and it's as good as buying the items directly from the designer. Andile hinted that designers are considering making a few deals available this coming Black Friday, but we'll need to keep our eyes on the site for those.

Lesela app

Lesela app

Lesela app

Lesela app

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